New and Noteworthy is the City Tech Library OER Team’s weekly roundup of new and noteworthy OER. We try to include at least one OER relevant to each school at City Tech in every post. At the end of the month, these resources will be compiled and distributed by the library liaison for your department. Please contact us if you know of new or particularly interesting OER to share with our colleagues or would like more information about OER initiatives at City Tech. 

Arts & Sciences 

  1. Intro to LGBTQ+ Studies (Beta Edition), by Deborah Amory and Sean Massey (eds.) (2020). License: CC BY
    “We believe that this textbook fills a number of needs for both academic readers and the general public. First, it is the only free, openly licensed textbook on LGBTQ+ issues in the world. It offers accessible, academically sound information on a wide range of topics, from LGBTQ+ history, LGBTQ+ relationship, families, parenting, and health, to LGBTQ+ culture. Second, we employ an intersectional analysis throughout the book, highlighting the ways in which sexuality and gender are simultaneously experienced and constructed through other structures of inequality and privilege, such as race and class. This intersectional analysis is grounded in social theory and the social sciences. Third, we have also sought to highlight a more global perspective on LGBTQ+ issues, from the ancient world as well more contemporary ones. Finally, we aim to support multiple learning styles by integrating visual elements and multimedia resources throughout the textbook.”

  2. Physical Geography, by Jeremy Patrich, College of the Canyons (2020). License: CC BY
    This open textbook covers a variety of introductory geography topics, including earth’s grid system, rivers, oceans, deserts, basic geology, and cartography.


Professional Studies

  1. Good Corporation, Bad Corporation: Corporate Social Responsibility in the Global Economy, by Elizabeth Pulos and Guillermo C. Jimenez, SUNY Open Textbooks (2016). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This textbook provides an innovative, internationally oriented approach to the teaching of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and business ethics. Drawing on case studies involving companies and countries around the world, the textbook explores the social, ethical, and business dynamics underlying CSR in such areas as global warming, genetically modified organisms (GMO) in food production, free trade and fair trade, anti-sweatshop and living-wage movements, organic foods and textiles, ethical marketing practices and codes, corporate speech and lobbying, and social enterprise. The book is designed to encourage students and instructors to challenge their own assumptions and prejudices by stimulating a class debate based on each case study.”

  2. Scientific Inquiry in Social Work, by Matthew DeCarlo, Open Social Work Education (2019). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “An introductory textbook for social work students studying research methods, this book guides students through the process of creating a research project. Students will learn how to discover a researchable topic that is interesting to them, examine scholarly literature, formulate a proper research question, design a quantitative or qualitative study to answer their question, carry out the design, interpret quantitative or qualitative results, and disseminate their findings to a variety of audiences.”


Technology & Design

  1. Exploring Movie Construction & Production: What’s so exciting about movies?, by John Reich, SUNY Open Textbooks (2017). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “Exploring Movie Construction & Production contains eight chapters of the major areas of film construction and production. The discussion covers theme, genre, narrative structure, character portrayal, story, plot, directing style, cinematography, and editing. Important terminology is defined and types of analysis are discussed and demonstrated.  An extended example of how a movie description reflects the setting, narrative structure, or directing style is used throughout the book to illustrate building blocks of each theme. This approach to film instruction and analysis has proved beneficial to increasing students’ learning, while enhancing the creativity and critical thinking of the student.”

  2. Technical Report Writing Guidelines, by Leah M. Akins, Ph.D., Dutchess Community College (2018). License: CC BY-NC-SA
    “This document specifies the recommended format to be used when submitting a formal technical report in a variety of disciplines and purposes. Also, this manual can be used as a guide to compose less formal reports, such as lab reports, that may consist of a subset of the items presented here.  It is a useful general guide from which faculty can specify the particular requirements for reports in their courses.”

Cailean Cooney, Assistant Professor, OER Librarian: ccooney@citytech.cuny.edu
Joshua Peach, Adjunct Reference & OER Librarian: jpeach@citytech.cuny.edu
Joanna Thompson, Adjunct OER Librarian: jthompson@citytech.cuny.edu